DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE 
MARINE  BAROMETER 
AMERICAN  WATERS 


ARE   THERE 


Equinoctial  Storms? 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE 
MARINE  BAROMETER 

IN 

AMERICAN  WATERS 


Copyright,  1911  JOHN  H.  MORRISON. 


ARE  THERE 

Equinoctial  Storms? 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE 
MARINE  BAROMETER 
IN  AMERICAN  WATERS 


By  JOHN  H.  MORRISON 

AUTHOR 

HISTORY  OF  AMERICAN  STEAM  NAVIGATION. 
HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  SHIPYARDS. 


PRESS    OF 

WM.  F.  SAMETZ  &  CO., 


Are  There  Equinoctial  Storms  ? 


HE  severe  West  Indian  storms  occur- 
ring about  the  time  of  the  spring 
and  autumnal  equinoxes  have  long 
been  the  subject  of  investigation, 
and  the  early  opinions  have  been 
handed  down  to  the  present  time  with  many 
other  sayings,  like  the  St.  Swithins  Day  fallacy, 
from  the  days  of  superstition  and  compara- 
tive ignorance  of  the  sciences.  They  are  with 
us  to  some  extent  even  at  this  day,  but  not  of  so 
marked  a  character  nor  so  broadcast  as  they 
were  even  fifty  years  ago.  They  cannot  stand 
the  searchlight  of  investigation,  nor  the  analy- 
sis of  these  storms  to  a  locality  at  or  near  the 
time  of  the  equinoxes,  for  a  long  period  of 
years. 

Our  early  education  on  this  subject  has  no 
doubt  been  the  reason  for  entertaining  opinions 
held  for  so  many  years.  Being  handed  down 
from  one  generation  to  another  with  but  little 
thought  of  their  causes,  the  subject  engaged  the 
attention  of  very  few.  The  "equinoctial  gales," 
so  called,  were  then  accepted  and  recognized  as 
regular  visitors  to  our  sea  coast  cities  at  stated 
intervals  of  the  spring  and  autumn  of  the  year, 

258719 


6  EQUINOCTIAL     STORMS. 

That  they  were  a  factor  then  to  be  recognized 
and  taken  into  account  and  that  had  a  firm 
hold  on  public  opinion  in  this  country  can  be 
brought  to  mind  by  some  persons  even  at  this 
late  day.  When  preparing  to  start  on  a  deep 
sea  voyage  near  the  spring  or  autumn  equinox 
they  would  be  advised  that  it  were  more 
prudent  to  wait  until  the  equinoctial  had  passed 
before  sailing,  on  account  of  the  danger  to  a 
vessel  running  into  one  of  these  storms. 

Some  of  the  popular  sources  of  information 
in  former  days  may  be  quoted  from  as  showing 
the  opinions  then  entertained  on  the  subject  by 
those  well  informed.  Thus  Universal  Etymo- 
logical English  Dictionary  of  1764  says, 
"Hurricane;  a  violent  form  of  wind  which  often 
happens  in  the  East  and  West  Indies  in 
September  and  October,  overthrowing  trees, 
houses,  and  whatsoever  is  in  its  way."  Hurri- 
canes begin  in  the  North,  but  turn  around,  and 
in  a  little  time  veer  through  all  the  points  of 
the  compass.  Dictionary  of  the  English 
Language,  Samuel  Johnson,  1768,  "Equinoctial 
Wind'7  happening  about  the  time  of  the 
equinoxes.  Falconer's  Naval  Dictionary,  1804, 
"Equinoctial  Gales";  storms  which  are  observed 


EQUINOCTIAL    STORMS.  7 

generally  to  take  place  about  the  time  of  the 
Sun's  crossing  the  equator  or  equinoctial  line, 
at  which  time  there  is  equal  day  and  night 
throughout  the  world.  Mariner's  Dictionary 
or  American  Seamen's  Vocabulary  of  Technical 
Terms  and  Sea  Phrases,  1805,  "Equinoctial 
Gales,"  storms  which  are  observed  generally 
to  take  place  about  the  time  of  the  Sun's  cross- 
ing the  equator  or  equinoctial  line,  at  which 
time  there  is  equal  day  and  night  throughout 
the  world;  "Hurricanes,"  a  violent  and  pro- 
digious tempest  accompanied  with  lightning,  in 
which  the  wind  blows  from  every  part  of  the 
compass,  causing  a  dangerous  agitation  in  the 
sea,  when  the  waves  break  and  dash  against 
each  other  with  astonishing  fury.  Hurricanes 
are  most  frequent  between  the  tropics,  when 
they  sometimes  produce  the  greatest  devasta- 
tion. They  generally  take  place  about  the  time 
of  the  Sun's  passing  the  equinox,  i.  e.,  the  21st 
March  and  21st  September.  Noah  Webster  in 
his  American  Dictionary  of  1828  says:  "Per- 
taining to  the  time  when  the  Sun  enters  the 
equinoctial  point,  as  an  equinoctial  gale  or 
storm,  which  happens  at  or  near  the  equinox  in 
any  part  of  the  world."  In  New  York  daily 


8  EQUINOCTIAL    STORMS. 

newspapers  we  find  the  severe  storm  of  Sep- 
tember, 1815  reported  as  "the  equinoctial  gale." 
It  appears  to  have  extended  near  the  whole 
length  of  our  eastern  seaboard.  In  September, 
1838,  "We  had  throughout  yesterday  one  of  the 
steady,  soaking,  Northeast  rains,  which  usually 
precede  or  attend  the  autumnal  equinox."  In 
September,  1844,  "After  a  dry  spell  of  unusual 
duration  *  *  *  we  had  a  slight  shower  on 
Saturday  night  last,  which  was  succeeded  yes- 
terday by  a  settled  rain  from  the  Northeast,  a 
genuine  equinoctial,  which  promises  to  soak  the 
earth  before  it  ceases."  In  September,  1853,  is 
recorded,  "Wednesday  night's  gale  may  be  con- 
sidered as  a  prelude  of  the  equinoctial  storms 
which  are  generally  attended  with  more  or  less 
disastrous  effects."  Even  as  late  as  1882  there 
is  stated,  "The  Equinoctial  Storm."  "If  the 
storm  of  the  past  few  days  was  not  the  tradi- 
tional line  storm  which  the  scientists  inform  us 
does  not  exist,  but  which  nevertheless  appears 
at  just  about  this  portion  of  the  present  month, 
it  resembled  the  genuine  article  just  as  closely 
as  was  desirable."  Of  a  more  recent  date  there 
is  found  "Equinoctial  Weather."  Though  the 
autumnal  equinox  is  almost  due  there  is  no 


EQUINOCTIAL     STORMS.  9 

distinct  signs  just  now  of  any  general  equinoc- 
tial storm.  *  *  *  Vessels  now  sailing  to 
southern  ports  should  therefore  be  prepared  to 
encounter  dangerous  cyclones  advancing  from 
West  Indian  waters,  which  may  be  expected 
before  the  close  of  this  month."  *  *  Gave 
the  Atlantic  seaboard  from  Florida  to  New 
York  quite  an  equinoctial  storm." 

We  thus  see  that  the  same  popular  opinion  of 
the  equinoctial  storm  was  entertained  in  this 
country  for  more  than  one  hundred  years,  and 
to  a  very  recent  date.  There  have  been  so  very 
few  of  these  severe  storms  in  the  vicinity  of 
New  York  City,  of  a  pronounced  character, 
about  the  time  of  the  spring  or  autumnal 
equinox  of  late  years,  that  it  is  somewhat  dim- 
cult  to  say  how  much  of  a  hold  the  old  theory 
has  at  the  present  day.  There  is  some  left  no 
doubt. 

Benjamin  Franklin  was  the  first  in  this 
country  to  note  the  course  and  severity  of  these 
Northeast  storms  on  our  coast.  In  a  letter 
dated  at  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  July  16th,  1747,  lie 
said  on  the  subject:  "We  have  frequently 
along  this  North  American  coast  storms  from 
the  Northeast  which  blow  violently.  Some- 


10  EQUINOCTIAL     STORMS. 

times  three  or  four  days.  Of  these  I  have  had 
a  very  singular  opinion  some  years,  viz.:  that 
though  the  course  of  the  wind  is  from  North- 
east to  Southwest,  yet  the  course  of  the  storm 
is  from  Southwest  to  Northeast;  that  is,  the  air 
is  in  violent  motion  in  Virginia  before  it  moves 
in  Connecticut,  and  in  Connecticut  before  it 
moves  at  Cape  Sable."  The  one  storm  of  which 
he  left  a  partial  record  occurred  in  latter  part 
of  October,  1743.  There  was  a  map  of  Penn- 
sylvania, New  Jersey,  and  New  York  published 
in  1749  by  Louis  Evans  that  contained  a 
memorandum:  "All  our  great  storms  begin  to 
leeward;  thus  a  Northeast  storm  shall  be  a  day 
sooner  in  Virginia  than  Boston.77  This  was  the 
extent  of  our  knowledge  of  these  Northeast 
storms  on  our  coast  for  many  years.  The 
scattered  population  along  our  seaboard,  the 
small  number  of  persons  who  had  any  knowl- 
edge whatever  of  the  subject,  and  the  very  few 
meteorological  instruments  in  the  country  at 
the  time,  made  any  inquiry  into  the  causes  of 
these  storms  a  very  difficult  study.  After 
1820,  when  the  population  along  our  Atlantic- 
coast  was  very  much  greater,  and  they  had 
largely  recovered  from  the  embarrassed  finan- 


EQUINOCTIAL    STORMS.  11 

cial  condition  arising  from  the  Revolutionary 
War  and  the  War  of  1812-14,  there  were  a  few 
who  were  given  to  researches  into  questions  of 
science,  and  among  them  was  William  C. 
Bedfield,  of  New  York  City.  In  a  paper  written 
by  him  in  January,  1831,  he  gave  his  theory  of 
the  causes  and  movements  of  the  storms  of  the 
Atlantic  Ocean;  this  was  entirely  new  at  the 
time,  but  his  theory  has  held  good  to  this  day. 
He  was  in  the  front  rank  of  the  scientists  of 
that  period,  and  at  the  time  of  his  paper  on 
these  storms  was  engaged  in  steam  navigation 
in  New  York  waters,  and  was  among  the  first 
to  adopt  the  use  of  the  compound  engine  in 
steam  vessels  in  this  country. 

That  the  old  theory  on  this  subje-ct  has  not 
been  entirely  laid  aside,  it  may  be  stated  that 
a  known  scientist  not  many  years  ago  said  he 
"felt  rather  unhappy  at  the  overthrow  of  the 
old-fashioned  theory  with  regard  to  the 
equinoctial  gales,  and  that  he  could  not  quite 
consent  to  its  burial  in  spite  of  the  overwhelm- 
ing evidence  brought  forward."  Another 
scientist  referring  to  the  source  of  this  old 
theory  of  the  equinoctial  gales  said,  "If  they 
could  look  back  into  old  Italian  or  Roman 


12  EQUINOCTIAL     STORMS. 

history  they  would  find  that  severe  gales  had 
occurred  about  the  equinoxes,  which  perhaps 
had  buried  their  fleets  by  hundreds  at  a  time, 
and  that  the  memory  of  these  disasters  had 
lived  long  in  popular  memory  in  Italy." 

The  term  "Equinoctial  Gale"  has  of  later 
years  been  used  as  describing  a  gale  or  severe 
storm  on  our  Atlantic  coast  occurring  within 
seven  days  either  side  of  the  spring  o^  autumnal 
equinox. 

To  make  an  analysis  of  the  atmospheric 
conditions  at  one  locality  on  our  Atlantic  coast 
for  an  extended  period,  the  writer  has  prepared 
two  charts  from  the  records  of  the  U.  S. 
Weather  Bureau  at  New  York  City  of  the  daily 
precipitation  for  21  days,  ten  days  either  side 
of  the  spring  and  autumnal  equinox,  one  chart 
for  March  20  and  the  other  for  September  20, 
and  covering  a  period  of  40  years  from  1871  to 
1910  inclusive.  The  records  of  the  Meteoro- 
logical Observatory  at  New  York  City  covering 
the  same  period,  and  in  the  same  form  have 
also  been  prepared. 

In  a  comparison  of  the  records  of  the  two 
stations  it  is  found  that  the  total  rainfall  for 
the  40  vears  from  March  10  to  March  30  in- 


EQUINOCTIAL    STORMS.  13 

elusive  at  the  IT.  S.  Weather  Bureau  was  108.5 
inches,  and  for  the  same  period  at  the  Meteoro- 
logical Observatory  was  104.24  inches,  a 
difference  for  the  40  years  of  4.26  inches,  due 
no  doubt  to  difference  in  location  of  the 
instruments.  Then  in  a  comparison  of  the  fall 
period,  it  is  found  at  the  IT.  S.  Weather  Bureau 
the  total  precipitation  has  been  for  the  same 
length  of  time  during  September  112  inches, 
and  at  the  Meteorological  Observatory  114.24 
inches.  We  thus  see  there  was  for  the  period 
of  21  days  during  40  years  an  increase  of 
precipitation  during  the  fall  over  the  spring 
period. 

Divided  into  periods  of  10  years  each  for  the 
twenty-one  days  the  U.  S.  Weather  Bureau 
record  shows  the 

first  ten  years  in  March  a  precipitation  of 

32.05  inches; 

second  ten  years  in  March  a  precipitation 
of  29.17  inches; 

third  ten  years  in  March  a  precipitation  of 
26.88  inches; 

fourth  ten  years  in  March  a  precipitation 
of  20.4  inches. 


14  EQUINOCTIAL     STORMS. 

The      Meteorological      Observatory      record 
shows  for  the  same  period: 

first    ten    years    a    precipitation    of    33.91 

inches; 

second  ten  years  a  precipitation  of  25.82 

inches; 

third   ten   years   a   precipitation    of   23.37 

inches; 

fourth  ten  years  a  precipitation  of  21.14 

inches. 

For  the  September  division  the  records  of  the 
U.  S.  Weather  Bureau  show 

first    ten    years    a    precipitation    of    25,09 

inches; 

second  ten  years  a  precipitation  of  42.94  ' 

inches; 

third    ten   years   a   precipitation   of   18.04 

inches; 

fourth  ten  years  a  precipitation  of  25.93 

inches. 

The     Meteorological     Observatory     records 
show 

first    ten    years    a    precipitation    of    25.75 

inches; 

second  ten  years  a  precipitation  of  40.57 

inches; 


EQUINOCTIAL    STORMS.  15 

third   ten    years   a    precipitation    of    19.47 

inches; 

fourth  ten  years  a  precipitation   of  28.45 

inches. 

This  shows  that  the  ten  years  from  1881  to 
1890  inclusive  in  September  there  was  the 
greatest  precipitation,  and  that  from  1891  to 
1900  there  was  the  least  precipitation.  So  the 
September  period  shows  a  wider  range  of  rain- 
fall in  ten  year  divisions  than  does  the  March 
period. 

Of  the  individual  storms,  of  which  thirty-four 
in  all  have  been  taken  notice  of,  those  within 
seven  days  before  and  seven  days  after  the  20th 
of  March  w^ould  be  of  interest;  that  of  March 
21st,  1871,  where  there  was  a  rainfall  of  2.3 
inches,  with  maximum  wind  velocity  of  13 
miles  per  hour.  On  March  20  and  21,  1876, 
a  rainfall  of  2.5  inches  with  Northeast  wind  of 
41  miles  maximum  velocity,  and  on  March  25 
a  precipitation  of  3.6  inches.  March  26-27, 
1877,  a  rainfall  of  2.97  inches  with  a  maximum 
wind  velocity  of  26  miles.  March  19-20,  1881.  a 
rainfall  of  2.64  inches  with  Northeast  wind  of 
27  miles  maximum.  March  21,  1886,  precipita- 
tion of  1.5  inches  with  wind  velocitv  of  36  miles. 


16  EQUINOCTIAL    STORMS. 

March  22,  1899,  precipitation  of  1.5  inches,  wind 
velocity  30  miles.  March  19,  1900,  rainfall  of 
1.4  inches,  maximum  wind  velocity  22  miles. 
March  25,-  1909,  a  rainfall  of  1.03  inches  with 
wind  velocity  18  miles  per  hour. 

The  total  rainfall  by  records  of  U.  S. 
Weather  Bureau  for  40  years  on  7  days  pre- 
ceding the  20th  of  March  was  36.07  inches,  and 
for  the  7  days  succeeding  the  same  date  was 
40.73  inches.  Of  those  fourteen  days  named 
the  greatest  precipitation  on  any  one  day 
for  forty  years  was  March  21  of  12.31 
inches,  and  the  least  for  the  same  time 
was  on  March  24  of  1.35  inches.  That 
shows  a  very  wide  range  of  rainfall  for 
such  a  long  period  of  time.  The  day  of  equi- 
noctial interest,  the  20th,  stands  forth  as  second 
from  the  bottom  of  the  list,  with  only  a  total  of 
2.97  inches  in  40  years;  the  Meteorological 
Observatory  record  gives  this  date  4.5  inches, 
and  for  the  last  ten  years  on  this  same  date 
there  has  been  a  total  precipitation  of  only  .10 
of  an  inch.  If  there  is  any  one  day  to  which  a 
ray  of  hope  may  be  attached  to  build  the  old 
theory  upon  in  the  month  of  March  it  will  be 
either  the  19th  or  the  21st  of  that  month.  Of 


EQUINOCTIAL    STORMS.  17 

the  former  for  40  years  there  was  a  total  precip- 
itation of  10.22  inches  in  22  years,  16  years  with 
no  rain,  and  2  years  with  a  trace  of  rain,  and  in 
the  last  ten  years  there  were  four  years  with  no 
rain.  On  the  21st  there  was  a  total  rainfall  of 
12.31  inches  in  18  years,  4  years  a  trace  of  rain, 
and  18  years  no  rain,  and  in  the  last  ten  years 
there  were  six  years  with  no  rain.  While  the 
record  of  the  Meteorological  Observatory  for 
these  dates  do  not  in  every  instance  agree  with 
those  given,  still  the  result  is  by  no  means 
affected,  in  fact  it  makes  the  old  theory  equally 
unstable. 

Taking  the  individual  storms  for  the  Septem- 
ber period  under  the  same  conditions  as  those 
named  for  the  March  period  we  find  that  of 
September  1(3-18,  1874,  a  rainfall  of  5.67  inches 
and  wind  velocity  of  13  miles:  Meteorological 
Observatory  records  7.09  inches.  In  1882,  Sep- 
tember 20-23,  a  rainfall  of  9.21  inches;  Meteoro- 
logical Observatory  12.12  inches,  wind  velocity, 
maximum  Northeast,  23  miles.  In  1890  a  pre- 
cipitation of  6.29  inches,  maximum  wind 
velocity  Southeast,  24  miles;  Meteorological 
Observatory  record,  3.21  inches,  wind  8  miles. 
In  1894  on  September  17-19,  rainfall  5.81  inches, 


18  EQUINOCTIAL     STORMS. 

wind  velocity  14  miles.  In  1903  on  September 
16-17,  2  inches  precipitation,  East  wind,  maxi- 
mum velocity  63  miles  per  hour.  In  1904  on 
September  14-15  a  rainfall  of  2.91  inches,  wind 
Northeast,  22  miles.  In  1907,  on  September  21- 
23,  a  precipitation  of  3.16  inches,  Northeast 
wind,  11  miles. 

The  heavier  precipitation  in  September  than 
during  March  period  can  be  accounted  for  in 
the  continuation  of  the  summer  temperature, 
for  during  the  whole  month  of  September  for 
39  years  there  were  17  years  when  the  daily 
maximum  temperature  of  the  atmosphere  ex- 
ceeded 85°,  and  ten  years  90°  and  over,  and  one 
year,  in  1881,  when  it  reached  100°.  Many  of 
the  storms  during  this  high  temperature  were 
accompanied  by  thunder  and  lightning,  and 
were  of  such  short  duration  as  to  be  unlike  the 
traditional  equinoctial  storm.  There  were  a 
succession  of  these  storms  in  this  month  that 
might  be  mentioned,  as  showing  its  large  rain- 
fall and  its  limited  area,  that  occurred  on 
September  15-16-17,  1890.  The  September 
period  also  shows  that  the  17th  of  that  month 
heads  the  list  with  a  total  precipitation  in  40 
years  of  11.17  inches  by  records  U.  S.  Weather 


EQUINOCTIAL    STORMS.  19 

Bureau,  and  by  those  of  the  Meteorological 
Observatory  12.37  inches,  and  during  that  time 
there  were  15  days  with  rain,  22  days  no  rain 
and  3  days  with  a  trace  of  rain,  and  in  last  ten 
years  were  4  years  .89  inches,  and  6  years  no 
rain.  The  23rd  of  same  month  has  a  total  pre- 
cipitation of  10.06  inches,  Meteorological  Ob- 
servatory 12.23  inches:  11  days  with  rain  and 
29  days  no  rain.  The  20th  of  the  month  shows 
for  the  same  time  a  precipitation  of  but  2.72 
inches,  while  the  seven  days  succeeding  the 
same  date  show  an  average  per  date  of  4.35 
inches. 

Of  the  21  da}7  period  for  40  years,  having  840 
days,  there  were  in  March  421  days  when  there 
was  no  rain,  not  even  a  trace;  and  in  September 
for  the  same  period  there  were  502  days  with  no 
rain.  Of  the  period  of  7  days  before  and  7  days 
after  the  20th,  that  for  March  shows  299  days 
without  precipitation,  and  that  for  September 
346  days  with  no  rain,  giving  practically  the 
same  percentage  of  days  with  no  rain  in  each 
period. 

Greatest  precipitation  in  any  one  day  of  24 
hours  within  the  period  in  March  was  on  March 
25, 1876,  of  4.25  inches  by  U.  S.  Weather  Bureau, 


20  EQUINOCTIAL    STOPxMS. 

and  in  September  was  on  the  23rd,  September, 
1882,  record  of  Meteorological  Observatory  8.28 
inches,  and  U.  S.  Weather  Bureau  6.17  inches. 
Difference  in  time  of  making  observations  may 
have  made  the  difference  in  the  records. 

As  the  well  known  blizzard  of  March,  1888, 
comes  within  the  21  day  period  under  review, 
there  was  only  the  high  velocity  of  the  wind  for 
such  an  extended  time  that  gave  it  any  resem- 
blance to  our  severe  Northeast  storms,  but  the 
extreme  low  temperature  of  the  air  with  the 
heavy  snowfall,  all  combined,  make  it  a  subject 
of  historical  interest  in  meteorology.  The 
snowfall  was  on  Monday,  the  12th  of  March, 
16.5  inches;  the  13th,  3  inches;  the  14th,  1.4 
inches;  total  for  three  days  by  official  record, 
20.9  inches;  total  in  rain,  including  Sunday  the 
llth,  2.46  inches.  Temperature: 

7.30  a.  in.  3  p.  m.  10  p.  m.  Lowest. 


llth   Sunday    

37° 

38° 

34° 

12th  Monday    

24° 

17° 

11° 

10.7° 

13th  Tuesday  

6° 

12° 

14° 

4.8° 

14th  Wednesday.  . 

23° 

39° 

34° 

12.9° 

Maximum  wind  velocity  on  the^llth,  Northeast 
21  miles  at  10  p.  m.;  on  the  12th,  West,  48  miles 


EQUINOCTIAL    STORMS.  21 

at  10  p.  m.;  on  the  13th,  West,  50  miles  at  7 
a.  m.;  and  on  the  14th,  Northwest,  24  miles  at 
7  a.  m. 

It  seems  clear  from  an  examination  of  the 
figures  brought  out  through  the  analysis  of  the 
several  charts  that  there  is  little,  if  any  hold  to 
fasten  the  old  theory  of  the  equinoctial  storms 
upon.  Taking  the  very  large  percentage  of  the 
whole  number  of  days,  with  March  showing  50 
per  cent,  of  days  with  no  rain,  and  September 
showing  almost  60  per  cent,  of  days  having  no 
rain,  it  would  seem*  to  be  conclusive  evidence 
that  the  old  theory  of  equinoctial  storms  being 
always  present  7  days  before  or  7  days  after  the 
spring  or  fall  equinox  would  no  longer  be  held 
to  be  of  any  value.  So  the  answer  can  well  be 
given,  taking  counsel  of  the  figures,  to  the  ques- 
tion, are  there  equinoctial  storms  along  our 
Atlantic  coast  about  the  time  of  the  spring  or 
autumnal  equinox,  that  there  are  not 


Development  of  the 

Marine  Barometer 

IN 

American  Waters 


Development  of  the  Marine  Barom- 
eter in  American  Waters 

EXPERIMENTAL  The  mercurial  barometer 
STAGE.  was  the  invention  of  Evan- 

gelista  Torricelli,  an  Italian  mathematician  and 
philosopher,  who  was  the  successor  of  Galileo, 
of  Florence,  Italy.  The  latter  had  begun  the  ex- 
periments in  1642,  but  they  were  brought  to  a 
successful  stage  in  1643  by  his  successor.  Its 
first  experimental  use  was  in  ascertaining  the 
heights  of  the  elevated  locations  of  the  surfaces 
of  the  earth! 

The  barometer  in  its  orginal  form  seems  to 
have  been  used  on  vessels  at  an  early  date,  as 
we  find  that  another  form  of  instrument  was 
needed  to  overcome  the  violent  oscillation  of 
the  mercury  in  the  tube,  due  to  the  motion  of 
the  vessel,  that  made  it  unreliable. 

It  was  some  years  before  a  barometer  for 
marine  purposes  was  brought  into  use,  and  then 
not  in  the  form  of  the  mercurial  instrument. 
The  earliest  marine  barometer  of  which  there 
appears  to  be  any  record  was  that  of  the  inven- 
tion.of  Dr.  Kobert  Hooke,  of  Great  Britain,  in 


4  MARINE     BAROMETER. 

1668.  This  instrument  is  thus  described  in  the 
year  1700:  "It  consists  of  two  thermometers, 
one  air  and  one  spirit  of  wine  on  the  same 
frame.  They  each  have  their  own  scale  at  the 
side  of  their  tubes  that  were  graduated  to  their 
own  use.  The  observation  was  made  by  a  com- 
parison of  the  state  of  the  air  thermometer  with 
the  spirit  thermometer."  This  instrument, 
while  strictly  not  a  barometer,  was  one  that  in- 
dicated the  changed  conditions  of  the  atmos- 
phere. Dr.  Edmund  Halley,  the  British 
astronomer,  in  his  voyage  to  the  South  Seas  in 
1700  to  study  the  variation  of  the  compass,  and 
attempt  the  discovery  of  what  land  lay  to  the 
south  of  the  western  ocean,  had  one  of  these 
instruments  with  him,  and  he  said:  "It  never 
failed  to  prognosticate  and  give  early  notice  of 
all  the  bad  weather  we  had,  so  that  I  depended 
thereon  and  made  provision  accordingly,  and 
from  my  own  experience  I  conclude  that  a  more 
useful  contrivance  has  not  for  this  long  time 
been  offered  for  the  benefit  of  navigation." 

There  now  passed  many  years,  during  which 
the  portable  mercurial  barometer  was  passing 
through  many  changes  and  taking  different 
forms;  otherwise  it  was  in  an  Active  experi- 


MARINE    BAROMETER.  5 

mental  stage.  Whether  there  were  any  marine 
mercurial  barometers  in  use  during  this  period 
it  is  difficult  to  say. 

The  earliest  record  we  have  of  the  mercurial 
marine  barometer  was  of  one  in  the  expedition 
under  Capt.  John  C.  Phipps,  of  the  British  navy, 
who  sailed  in  1773  with  two  vessels  to  find  the 
northern  route  to  India  via  the  North  Pole,  but 
was  unsuccessful  from  the  sea  being  blocked 
with  ice.  Among  the  many  instruments  sent 
out  in  the  expedition  was  a  mercurial  barometer 
made  by  Nairne  of  London,  who  thus  describes 
the  instrument:  "The  bore  of  the  upper  part 
of  the  glass  tube  of  this  barometer  is  about 
3/10  inch  diameter  and  4  inches  long.  To 
this  is  joined  a  glass  tube  with  a  bore 
about  1/20  inch  diameter.  The  two  glass 
tubes  being  joined  together  form  the  tube 
of  this  barometer,  and  being  filled  and  in- 
verted into  a  cistern  of  the  same  the  mercury 
falls  dowTn  in  the  tube  till  it  is  counterbalanced 
by  the  weight  of  the  atmosphere.  In  a  common 
barometer  the  motion  of  the  mercury  up  and 
down  in  the  tube  is  so  great  at  sea  that  it  is  not 
possible  to  measure  its  perpendicular  height, 
consequently  cannot  show  the  alteration  ia  the 


6  MARINE     BAROMETER. 

weight  of  the  atmosphere,  but  in  this  marine 
barometer  that  defect  is  remedied.  The  instru- 
ment is  fixed  in  gimbals  and  kept  in  a  perpen- 
dicular position  by  a  weight  fastened  to  the 
bottom  of  it.  The  perpendicular  rising  and 
falling  of  the  mercury  is  measured  by  divisions 
on  a  plate  divided  into  inches  and  tenths,  and  a 
vernier  division  into  hundredths  of  an  inch 
which  is  fixed  to  the  side  of  the  tube." 

We  are  now  brought  to  a  period  but  a  few 
years  from  the  opening  of  our  War  of  the  Kevo- 
lution,  and  see  that  the  only  marine  barometers 
of  which  we  have  any  record  were  those  carried 
on  scientific  expeditions.  There  may  have  been 
some  in  use  on  merchant  vessels  at  this  period 
in  foreign  waters  and  no  doubt  were,  but  there 
were  none  on  vessels  in  our  own  waters  so  far 
as  the  record  shows. 

BAROMETER  The  early  use  of  the  port- 

SCIENCE.  a^^e  mercurial  barometer   in 

this  country  was  by  a  Dr.  John  Lining,  a 
physician  at  Charleston,  S.  C.,  in  1737,  in  con- 
nection with  other  meteorological  instruments, 
to  study  the  relation  of  diseases  to  the  changes 
and  influences  of  the  weather.  Most  of  those 


MARINE    BAROMETER.  7 

persons  making  use  of  these  instruments,  for 
other  purposes  than  as  a  novelty  or  a  toy,  were 
professional  men  connected  with  our  colleges, 
scientific  and  medical  societies.  The  Medical 
Bureau  of  the  U.  S.  War  Department,  about 
1820,  took  up  the  subject  of  weather  observa- 
tions to  study  the  relations  of  diseases  to  the 
changes  of  the  weather  from  a  professional 
standpoint. 

WEATHER  The  type  of  marine  barom- 

GLASS.  eter  appears  in  doubt   about 

the  last  of  the  18th  Century,  for  the  term  of 
"weather  glass"  was  given  to  instruments,  in 
some  cases,  used  for  the  purposes  of  noting  the 
changes  of  the  atmosphere  on  a  vessel. 
"Weather  glass/'  a  glass  that  shows  the  change 
of  weather,  with  degrees  of  heat  and  cold. 
"Barometer/'  a  machine  for  measuring  the 
weight  of  the  atmosphere  in  order  chiefly  to 
determine  the  changes  of  the  weather. 
"Weather  glass/'  a  barometer.  "Marine  barome- 
ter/' a  double  thermometer  for  convenience  at 
sea.  What  was  called  the  "Weather  Glass"  or 
"Storm  Glass,"  and  later  known  as  the 
Camphor  Glass,  came  into  use  about  the  same 


8  MARINE     BAROMETER. 

period,  and  was  described  as  follows:  "An 
ingenious  contrivance  of  this  nature  lias  lately 
been  announced  by  Wiegler  in  Germany,  and 
the  invention  of  it  is  likewise  claimed  by  Francis 
Anone  of  High  Holborn.  It  consists  of  a  glass 
tube  containing  a  liquor  that  holds  in  solution 
a  compound  substance,  the  transparency  or 
turbid  appearance  of  which  indicates  the 
changes  in  the  atmosphere.  Thus  if  the 
weather  promises  to  be  fine  the  solid  matter  of 
the  composition  will  settle  at  the  bottom  of  the 
tube,  while  the  liquor  is  pellucid.  But  pre- 
viously to  a  change  of  rain  the  compound  will 
gradually  rise,  the  fluid  will  continue  trans- 
parent, and  small  stars  will  be  observed  moving 
or  floating  about  the  glass.  Twenty-four  hours 
before  a  storm  or  very  high  wind  the  substance 
will  be  partly  on  the  surface  of  the  liquid  appar- 
ently in  the  form  of  a  leaf;  the  fluid  in  such  a 
case  will  be  turbid  and  in  a  state  resembling 
fermentation.  *  *  *  Lastly,  it  may  be  ascer- 
tained from  what  point  of  the  compass  the  wind 
blows  by  observing  that  the  solid  particles 
adhere  more  closely  to  the  bottom  on  the  side 
opposite  to  that  from  which  the  tempest 
happens  to  arise.  This  instrument  has  been 


MARINE     BAROMETER. 

satisfactorily  employed,  both  at  sea  and  oil 
shore,  being  small,  portable,  and  tolerably 
exact,  it  may  often  serve  as  a  substitute  for  the 
more  bulky  and  expensive  contrivances  in  com- 
mon use."  We  thus  see  that  the  term  "weather 
glass"  covered  most  all  types  of  marine  barom- 
eters, and  those  not  strictly  a  barometer;  it  was 
even  used  till  not  so  many  years  ago  in  some 
cases. 

MARINE  BAROM-  In  this  country  the  flrst 
ETER  IN  reference  to  the  marine 

UNITED  STATES,  barometer  we  find  is  in  the 
log  book  of  the  "Bon-Homme-Richard,"  of  Com 
modore  John  Paul  Jones'  squadron,  in  1779, 
where  mention  is  made  of  the  "breaking  of  the 
glass,"  but  it  does  not  appear  what  type  of  glass 
it  was.  This  was  the  vessel  fitted  out  by  King 
Louis  XVI.  of  France,  and  placed  in  the  squad- 
ron of  Commodore  John  Paul  Jones  during  our 
War  of  the  Revolution.  As  this  vessel  was 
fitted  out  at  the  time  when  France  was  well 
advanced  in  the  arts  and  sciences,  there  may 
have  been  a  mercurial  barometer  on  board  the 
vessel.  It  is  stated  that  Commodore  Perry  had 
a  barometer  on  Lake  Erie  during  the  War  of 


10  MARINE    BAROMETER. 

1812-14,  and  that  Commodore  McDonough  had 
one  on  Lake  Cham  plain  during  the  same  war, 
but  no  detail  of  type  of  instrument  is  given. 
The  journal  of  Capt.  David  Porter,  IT.  S.  N.,  who 
made  a  cruise  in  1812-13  to  the  Pacific  Ocean  in 
the  frigate  "Essex,"  shows  the  readings  of  the 
barometer  and  thermometer  on  board  the  vessel 
for  a  short  period.  We  find  also  in  the  journal 
of  Commodore  Bainbridge,  U.  S.  N.,  in  the  U.  S. 
naval  ship  "Columbus"  on  her  passage  from 
Gibraltar  to  Boston,  Mass.,  in  June  and  July, 
1821,  a  record  for  that  period  of  the  meteoro- 
logical observations  on  board  the  vessel,  includ- 
ing barometer  readings,  but  there  is  no  record 
of  the  type  of  the  instruments. 

During  this  period  and  for  years  later  we  fail 
to  find  any  trace  of  a  barometer  of  any  type  on 
board  a  merchant  vessel  of  the  United  States, 
though  it  is  not  at  all  improbable  that  there 
were  some  instances  where  they  w^ere  to  be 
found.  With  the  many  packet  ships  that  were 
plying  between  Great  Britain,  France,  and  the 
United  States,  carrying  many  immigrants,  it 
would  appear  probable  that  there  were  some  of 
the  navigators  of  the  American  vessels  that 
would  become  acquainted  with  the  instrument 


MARINE     BAROMETER.  11 

and  its  practicability  while  in  the  foreign  ports, 
and  have  sufficient  enterprise  to  obtain  one,  as 
an  experiment,  if  nothing  more.  Probably  one 
of  the  reasons  for  not  adopting  its  use  may  have 
been,  at  least  in  some  instances,  that  the  officer 
or  master  in  command  of  a  vessel  may  have  con- 
sidered it  a  lowering  of  the  dignity  of  the  officer 
in  command,  for  be  it  remembered  they  were 
great  on  the  dignity  of  official  position  in  those 
days,  to  have  an  instrument  placed  in  their 
hands  that  should  advise  them  of  the  coming 
changes  in  the  atmosphere,  their  intimate 
knowledge  of  these  very  conditions  gained 
through  experience  being  one  of  the  factors 
that  gave  them  the  command  of  the  vessel. 

That  they  had  much  to  learn  at  this  period, 
Clarence  Dalrymple,  captain  of  one  of  the  East 
India  Company's  ships  in  1832,  mentions  the 
use  of  the  marine  barometer  as  one  reason  of 
the  short  voyages  between  England  and  India. 
"A  vessel  may  now  make  the  voyage  out  and 
home  in  eight  months,  which  fifty  years  ago 
required  twelve  months.  Now  by  the  use  of 
this  instrument,  the  observer,  who  follows  its 
motions,  may  carry  as  much  sail  at  night  as  by 
day,  regarding  also  a  principle  of  navigation  to 


12  MARINE     BAROMETER. 

brail  up  the  sails  in  time  before  a  squall,  but  to 
be  prompt  to  spread  all  sail  as  soon  as  the  chief 
violence  of  the  storm  has  passed."  An  Ameri- 
can marine  authority  in  1831,  referring  to  the 
barometer,  says:  "It  is  somewhat  singular  that 
this  instrument  so  useful  for  many  purposes  is 
not  in  more  general  use.  The  utility  of  them  in 
affairs  of  navigation  is  unquestionable  by  those 
who  have  paid  a  little  attention  to 'them.  Xo 
ship  should  be  without  one.  It  is  true  many 
ships  have  them,  yet  from  the  trifling  observa- 
tion bestowed  upon  them,  they  might  as  well  be 
at  the  bottom  of  the  sea." 

About  1830  there  came  a  change  in  our  com- 
mercial and  industrial  affairs.  Several  new 
lines  of  packet  ships  were  started  to  foreign 
ports,  and  between  our  coastwise  cities;  large 
numbers  of  skilled  mechanics  came  to  our  cities 
from  Europe  on  account  of  the  labor  troubles 
then  existing  at  their  former  homes.  It  was 
the  beginning  of  a  commercial  and  mechanical 
development  in  this  country,  that  showred  its 
good  results  in  a  few  years.  Old  methods  and 
systems  were  being  laid  aside,  younger  men 
were  coming  into  control  and  management  of 
our  business  affairs,  and  the  restless  American 


MARINE     BAROMETER.  13 

energy  began  to  show  itself.  It  took  ten  or 
more  years  to  develop  our  renowned  clipper 
ships  and  steamships.  The  new  officers  of  our 
vessels  brought  advanced  opinions  that  were 
more  in  line  with  the  progress  of  the  period,  and 
by  adopting  one  improvement  with  another 
were  soon  in  the  front  rank  of  the  navigators 
of  the  maritime  world. 

Prior  to  1830  there  was  no  system  in  our 
navy  regarding  the  care  of  nautical  instru- 
ments. When  a  naval  vessel  came  into  port 
from  a  cruise  the  instruments  were  taken 
ashore,  stowed  away,  and  small  attention  given 
them  until  they  were  again  required  for  use. 
The  first  mention  made  of  the  care  of  nautical 
instruments  in  the  U.  S.  Navy  is  in  1832,  where 
Lieut.  L.  M.  Goldsborough,  U.  S.  N.,  was  de- 
tailed "in  charge  of  chronometers  and  nautical 
instruments/7  and  located  at  Washington,  D.  C.. 
That  the  barometer  was  one  of  the  instruments 
in  this  bureau  there  is  a  record  of  the  meteoro- 
logical observations  taken  at  this  depot  at  this 
early  date. 

The  earliest  purchase  of  a  marine  barometer 
that  can  be  found  thus  far  in  the  navy  records 
is  in  1828,  for  a  contemplated  naval  exploring: 


14  MARINE     BAROMETER. 

expedition  to  the  South  Seas  and  Pacific  Ocean, 
that  was  not  fitted  out  for  several  years.  It 
included  a  Daniel's  Standard  barometer  pur- 
chased in  England,  costing  thirty-four  dollars, 
and  two  mountain  barometers  purchased  in 
New  York  that  cost  twenty-five  dollars  each. 
These  instruments  were  in  all  probability  part 
of  the  outfit  that  was  placed  on  the  U.  S.  Ship 
"Falmouth"  that  was  sent  on  a  voyage  to  the 
Pacific  Ocean  in  1831,  and  was  the  vessel  Past 
Midshipman  M.  F.  Maury,  U.  S.  N.,  was  on 
when  he  obtained  his  greatest  knowledge  of 
navigation,  that  in  a  few  years  brought  him 
into  such  prominence  in  marine  circles  the 
world  over.  He  wrote  a  paper  that  was  pub- 
lished in  1834  in  one  of  our  scientific  journals  of 
that  period,  "On  the  Navigation  of  Cape  Horn/7 
in  which  he  refers  to  the  use  of  the  barometer  in 
the  Southern  latitudes.  It  is  probably  the  most 
extensive  paper  on  the  subject  at  that  early 
date.  He  says  in  part :  "The  result  of  my  own 
barometrical  observations  compared  with 
others  to  which  I  have  had  access,  shows  that 
within  this  region  the  barometer  stands  higher 
when  the  winds  are  from  the  westward  than  it 
does  *  *  *  between  the  same  parallels  in  the 
Atlantic." 


MARINE     BAROMETER.  15 

Prof.  W.  C.  Redfield,  the  noted  American 
meteorologist  of  this  period,  says  of  the 
barometer:  "The  great  value  of  the  barometer 
to  navigators  is  becoming  well  understood,  and 
its  practical  utility  might  be  greatly  increased 
by  hourly  entries  of  the  precise  height  of  the 
mercurial  column  in  a  table  prepared  for  the 
purpose."  A  few  years  later  the  commander  of 
one  of  our  New  York  and  Havre  packets  said: 
"When  the  ship  was  moving  with  high  velocity, 
even  the  barometer  could  not  ^indicate  the 
current  of  air,  for  the  ship  would  have  moved 
beyond  the  influence  of  the  wind  which  was  in- 
dicated when  the  barometrical  observation  was 
taken."  A  criticism  of  this  remark  was  made 
at  the  time,  "that  the  want  of  a  due  attention 
to  it  is  probably  one  of  the  causes  which  have 
aided  to  retard  the  more  general  use  of  this 
instrument  among  mariners.  But  by  far  the 
greatest  cause  which  has  prevented  the  uni- 
versal use  of  the  barometer  is  the  difficulty  of 
procuring  a  good  one,  and  still  greater  difficulty 
of  retaining  it  in  perfect  condition."  It  would 
seem  as  though  many  of  our  navigators  at  this 
period  were  in  need  of  further  experience  with- 
the  barometer  to  get  the  best  results,  both  in 


16  MARINE     BAROMETER. 

their  observations  as  well  as  the  care  of  the 
instrument. 

One  of  the  officers  of  the  IT.  S.  Ship  "Peacock" 
in  1835  refers  to  the  barometer:  "The  barom- 
eter has  not  been  in  general  use  in  the  United 
States  Navy  more  than  fifteen  or  twenty  years. 
This  period  is  sufficient  for  establishing  its 
utility  in  foretelling  states  of  weather,  but  it 
has  not  yet  gained  the  universal  confidence  of 
the  officers.  However  certain  the  indications  of 
this  instrument  may  be  on  shore,  where  it  is  at 
perfect  rest,  and  where  the  observations  may  be 
made  with  the  nicest  accuracy,  the  same  cannot 
be  said  of  it  when  at  sea,  where  from  the 
necessary  motion  of  the  ship  in  spite  of  the  best 
mechanical  contrivances  for  its  suspension,  the 
mercurial  column  is  constantly  fluctuating,  and 
therefore  the  observations  are  obnoxious  to 
error,  and  at  best  must  be  considered  only  as 
proximate  to  the  truth."  The  IT.  S.  Ship  "Erie" 
made  a  voyage  to  Rio  Janeiro  from  New  York 
in  1837.  During  this  passage  of  the  vessel 
meteorological  observations  were  taken  on 
board  showing  use  of  the  barometer,  thermom- 
eter and  hygrometer.  "The  barometer  used 

*/   c^ 

for  the  purpose  wTas  a  common  marine  barom- 
eter suspended  in  the  large  cabin  of  the  ship." 


MARINE     BAROMETER.  17 

The  exploring  expedition  sent  out  to  the 
Pacific  Ocean  in  1838  under  Lieut.  Charles 
Wilkes,  U.  S.  N.,  was  the  first  fitted  out  for 
purely  scientific  purposes  in  this  country.  The 
barometers  on  board  the  vessels  are  thus  spoken 
of:  "The  barometer  for  the  use  of  the  Observa- 
tory^ was  an  ivory  float  gauge  made  by  Trough- 
ton  and  Simms.  Its  diameter  of  tube  was  .35  of 
an  inch.  This  was  considered  the  standard. 
It  continued  in  use  throughout  the  voyage,  and 
was  in  perfect  order  at  the  return  of  the  expedi- 
tion. There  were  four  vessels  in  this  expedition 
that  had  marine  barometers,  and  one  a  sympie- 
someter.  *  *  *  The  duty  of  keeping  the  mete- 
orological journals  on  board  the  vessels  was 
assigned  to  the  medical  officers  of  the  expedi- 
tion. The  instruments  used  by  the  expedition 
were  procured  in  1836  from  England,  France, 
and  Germany." 

THE  SYM-  The    sympiesometer,    form- 

PIESOMETER.  erly  mentioned,  was  a  form  of 
sensitive  barometer,  of  w^hich  there  seems  to  be 
no  former  record  of  its  use  in  this  country.  It 
wras  invented  in  1816  by  Alexander  Adie,  of 


18  MARINE     BAROMETER. 

Edinburgh,  Scotland,  and  is  thus  described: 
"The  principle  of  the  sympiesometer  consists  in 
measuring  the  weight  of  the  atmosphere  by  the 
compression  of  a  gaseous  column.  It  consists 
of  a  glass  tube  about  18  inches  long  and  7  inches 
diameter  inside,  terminated  above  by  a  bulb 
closed  at  the  top,  and  having  the  lower 
extremity  bent  upward  and  expanded  into  an 
oval  cistern,  open  at  the  top.  The  bulb  at  the 
open  extremity  being  filled  with  hydrogen  gas, 
and  a  part  of  the  cistern  and  tube  with  almond 
oil  colored  with  anchusa  root.  The  enclosed 
gas  by  changing  its  bulk  according  to  the  pres- 
sure of  the  atmosphere  on  the  oil  in  the  cistern, 
produces  a  corresponding  elevation  or  depres- 
sion of  the  oil  in  the  tube,  thereby  indicating 
the  variations  in  the  weight  of  the  atmosphere. 
The  scale  is  made  by  comparison  of  the  instru- 
ment with  a  standard."  These  instruments 
came  into  some  use  in  American  waters  at  a 
later  date,  and  even  after  our  Civil  War  there 
were  some  on  vessels  on  our  northern  lakes. 
There  were  not  many  on  the  Atlantic  coast. 
WIND  AND  CUR-  With  the  reorganization  of 
RENT  CHARTS,  the  U.  S.  Navy  Department  in 
1842  came  the  establishment  of  the  Depot  of 


MARINE     BAROMETER.  19 

Charts  and  Instruments,  that  was  attached  to 
the  Bureau  of  Ordnance  and  Hydrography, 
that  came  under  the  charge  of  Lieut.  Maury  in 
1844.  This  officer  began  his  preliminary  labors 
for  the  improvement  of  navigation  in  the  same 
year,  and  during  a  lecture  before  the  National 
Institute  on  the  "Gulf  Stream  and  Currents  of 
the  Sea,"  said  in  part:  *  *  *  "that  all  we  know 
of  this  wonderful  phenomenon  is  contained 
chiefly  in  what  Dr.  Franklin  said  of  it  more 
than  fifty  years  ago.  *  *  *  In  Dr.  Franklin's 
time  the  navigator  guessed  as  much  as  he  calcu- 
lated the  place  of  his  ship.  Vessels  from 
Europe  to  Boston  frequently  made  New  York, 
and  thought  the  land  fall  by  no  means  bad. 
Chronometers,  now  so  accurate,  were  then  an 
experiment.  The  instruments  of  navigation 
erred  by  degrees  quite  as  much  as  they  now  do 
by  minutes.  Instances  are  numerous  of  vessels 
navigating  the  Atlantic  in  those  times  being  6°, 
8°,  and  even  10°  out  of  their  reckoning  in  as 
many  days  from  port.  Our  means,  therefore,  of 
properly  conducting  a  system  of  observations 
upon  the  currents  of  the  sea,  and  for  following 
up  the  investigations  of  Franklin,  are  much 
more  ample  and  complete  than  they  have  ever 


20  MARINE     BAROMETER. 

been  with  navigators  before.  *  *  *  The  com- 
mercial marine  of  no  country  in  the  world  can 
boast  of  shipmasters  superior  to  the  Americans 
as  navigators,  and  in  general  intelligence. 
Their  industry  and  enterprise  warrant  the  ex- 
pectation that  they  would  join  hands  in  the 
undertaking  most  readily.  Personal  knowl- 
edge of  them  warrants  the  belief  that  at  the 
invitation  of  the  Institute  they  would  undertake 
a  series  of  observations  upon  any  plan  the 
Society  would  propose."  This  was  mo  doubt  his 
first  public  appeal  for  aid  in  the  cause  of  the 
Wind  and  Current  Charts,  that  was  later  taken 
up  by  the  Navy  Department.  His  opinion  of 
the  Gulf  Stream  does  not  hold  good  at  this  day. 
It  was  a  radical  step  he  had  taken  for  that 
period,  and  one  that  did  not  meet  with  much 
encouragement  and  support  at  first  from  the 
American  navigators,  as  they  did  not  have  the 
utmost  confidence  in  our  naval  affairs.  This 
prejudice  was  gradually  overcome,  and  these 
charts  were  received  by  the  commanders  of  deep 
sea  vessels  and  a  sufficient  number  of  them  re- 
turned in  two  years  so  that  he  was  enabled  to 
give  navigators  better  sailing  directions  to  some 
parts  of  the  world  than  they  had  before.  Direc- 


MARINE     BAROMETER.  21 

tions  to  other  parts  of  the  world  were  given  at 
a  later  period.  These  charts,  as  returned  by 
the  commander  of  the  vessels,  were  "an  abstract 
log  of  the  daily  position  of  the  ship,  of  the  pre- 
vailing direction  of  the  wind  for  each  of  the 
three  parts  of  the  twenty-four  hours,  the  height 
of  the  barometer,  the  state  of  the  thermometer, 
and  any  remarks  it  might  have  occurred  to  them 
to  make  touching  the  winds  and  the  waves,  and 
the*  general  course  of  navigation."  These 
charts  were  the  voluntary  contribution  by  the 
shipmasters  to  the  improvement  of  navigation. 
The  first  vessel  to  make  use  of  Maury's  Direc- 
tions for  Navigation  is  thus  noted:  "A  bark 
from  Baltimore,  the  <W.  H.  D.  C.  Wright/  fol- 
lowing his  directions,  made  the  voyage  from 
that  city  to  Rio  and  back  in  85  days,  including 
ten  days'  detention  in  foreign  port.  She  passed 
to  the  south  of  Bermuda  and  made  the  passage 
to  Eio  in  38  days,  following  the  great  circle,  and 
crossing  the  line  the  twenty-fourth  day  out  in 
longitude  31°  West."  Maury  said  of  this  voy- 
age, when  on  a  visit  to  London  in  1853.  *  *  * 
"By  the  investigation  of  the  subject  of  the  winds 
on  the  outward  and  homeward  routes  he  had 
discovered  the  space  which  he  had  before  men- 


22  MARINE     BAROMETER. 

tioned,  and  he  concluded  that  in  this  space  the 
winds  were  of  the  same  in  going  out  and  coming 
home.  Accordingly,  he  recommended  vessels 
to  take  the  middle  or  new  route.  The  W.  H. 
D.  C.  Wright,  Jackson  Master,  was  the  first 
vessel  that  had  the  courage  to  take  the  new 
route.  The  average  passage  to  the  equator, 
being  then  41  days,  Captain  Jackson  made  it  in 
24  days.  He  went  to  Bio  and  back  in  little 
more  than  the  usual  time  occupied  in  going. 
This  fact  called  the  attention  of  navigators  to 
the  subject  and  enabled  him  to  proceed  with  his 
investigations,  and  he  soon  had  a  volunteer 
corps  of  one  thousand  American  ships,  co-oper- 
ating with  him,  in  all  parts  of  the  ocean  and 
furnishing  him  with  the  most  valuable  statis- 
tics." This  voyage  of  the  W.  H.  D.  C.  Wright 
was  made  in  the  spring  of  1848.  The  Bark 
Ocean  Bird,  Captain  T.  A.  Hall,  from  New 
York  for  San  Francisco,  in  January,  1849,  was 
among  the  first  in  collecting  data  for  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  but  the  first  of  the  navigators  to  the 
Pacific  Ocean,  under  complete  sailing  directions 
to  California,  was  Capt.  McKay,  with  the 
clipper  ship,  "Sovereign  of  the  Seas,"  from  New 
York  to  San  Francisco  in  November,  1852. 


MARINE     BAROMETER. 

The  value  of  these  charts,  as  made  by  the 
shipmasters  and  returned  to  Lieut.  Maury,  who 
worked  out  better  sailing  directions  for  the 
navigator  may  be  found  in  the  letters  to  the 
writer  of  three  of  the  old  time  American  navi- 
gators, who  have  long  since  retired  from 
service.  Capt.  K.  G.  F.  Candage  of  Gleason- 
dale,  Mass.,  who  was  surveyor  for  Kecord  of 
American  and  Foreign  Shipping  for  more  than 
40  years,  and  the  Bureau  Veritas,  at  Boston, 
Mass.,  says  of  the  barometer:  "From  my  own 
knowledge  it  was  in  common  use  in  the  early 
40's  of  the  last  century.  I  had  one  of  the  old 
style  from  1850  to  last  February,  when  de- 
stroyed by  fire  with  my  house  and  contents,  and 
my  older  brother  had  used  it  8  or  10  years  before 
1850.  In  my  sailor  boy  days  back  in  the  40's 
all  sea-going  vessels  that  I  sailed  in  carried  a 
barometer. 

"I  kept  for  seven  or  eight  years  a  log  for  Lieut. 
Maury,  who  was  particular  to  have  height  of 
the  barometer  noted,  temperature  of  the  sea 
water,  force  and  direction  of  the  wind,  form  of 
clouds,  condition  of  waves,  weather,  etc.,  from 
which  data  he  constructed  his  sailing  charts 


24  MARINE     BAROMETER. 

and  directions,  one  of  the  greatest  benefits  ever 
conferred  on  the  American  merchant  marine  of 
the  Clipper  Ship  era,  or  since.  In  Maury's  time 
the  barometer  was  put  to  the  uses  above  named 
in  addition  to  former  use  as  an  indicator  of 
gales  or  changes  of  weather.77  Capt.  George  A. 
Dearborn,  of  Gardiner,  Maine,  says  in  part: 
"The  mercurial  barometer  was  in  use  when  he 
first  went  to  sea  as  a  sailor  in  1840;  does  not 
know  how  long  it  wras  in  use  before  that;  the 
first  Aneroid  that  he  used  was  in  1853,  when  he 
was  master.  Lieut.  Maury?s  work  was  a  great 
help  to  masters  of  ships.  He  resigned  his  posi- 
tion after  the  war  broke  out,  and  was  very  much 
missed.7'  Capt.  S.  F.  Phillips  says:  "My  first 
experience  with  a  barometer  was  a  mercurial, 
that  commenced  about  1845.  At  that  time  most 
of  our  ships  that  carried  barometers  were  sail- 
ing ships.  It  was  considered  to  be  part  of  a 
master's  working  tools  the  same  as  our  octant 
and  charts,  and  went  with  the  master.  About 
1850,  when  the  building  of  steamers  commenced, 
they  were  contracted  for  to  be  fitted  for  sea; 
that  included  instruments  for  navigation,  and 
as  the  Aneroid  barometer  was  the  cheaper,  it 


MARINE     BAROMETER.  25 

was  the  one  furnished  by  the  contractors,  con- 
sequently they  came  into  general  use." 

In  1852  Lieut.  Maury  suggested  to  Great 
Britain  the  making  of  meteorological  observa- 
tions at  sea,  and  invited  the  co-operation  of  the 
commercial,  as  well  as  the  Naval  Marine  of  all 
Maritime  nations.  It  was  not  until  1853,  after 
Lieut.  Maury  was  at  Brussels,  as  a  delegate  to 
the  Marine  Conference,  held  at  that  city,  and 
had  visited  Great  Britain  on  his  way  home,  that 
the  subject  was  taken  up  in  a  practical  way  by 
the  Merchant  Marine  of  that  country,  and  the 
Wind  and  Current  Charts  adopted. 

During  the  early  days  of  the  steam  engine  in 
the  United  States  Navy  it  was  the  custom  of  the 
older  officers,  .who  were  brought  up  in  the 
service  under  different  conditions  to  look  upon 
the  barometer  on  shipboard  as  one  of  those 
"new  fangled  things"  that  was  placed  on  board 
the  vessel  more  for  show  than  service,  but  it  was 
not  long  after  the  instrument  had  been  gener- 
ally adopted  by  the  department  before  these 
officers  began  to  see  there  were  some  good  re- 
sults to  be  obtained  from  its  use,  and  in  course 
of  time  relied  upon  it  as  their  other  nautical 
instruments. 


26  MARINE     BAROMETER. 

ANEROID  The  Aneroid  barometer  was 

BAROMETER.  first  used  by  Prof.  N.  J.  Conte, 
of  Paris,  in  his  balloon  ascensions.  He  had 
found  in  his  aerial  work  in  1795  that  the  Mer- 
curial barometer  was  almost  useless  on  account 
of  the  violent  oscillation  of  the  mercury  in  the 
tube,  and  he  therefore,  constructed  a  few  years 
later  an  instrument  somewhat  in  the  shape  of  a 
watch,  consisting  of  a  bowl  of  iron  upon  which 
was  a  domed  cover  of  very  thin  sheet  steel,  the 
joints  made  perfect;  springs  fitted  in  the  bowl 
kept  the  cover  at  a  proper  elevation,  from  which 
the  air  was  exhausted.  The  variations  of  the 
atmospheric  pressure  were  indicated  by  means 
of  a  hand  passing  over  a  divided  plate,  and 
operated  by  suitable  mechanism.  This  instru- 
ment was  found  on  trial  to  be  too  sensitive  to 
the  changes  of  the  atmosphere.  There  were  a 
few  Aneroid  barometers  of  foreign  manufacture 
that  were  on  sale  in  this  country  many  years 
later,  but  it  was  not  until  P.  A.  Fontaine 
Moreau  obtained  a  patent  on  behalf  of  the  in- 
ventor, Lucius  Vidi,  of  Paris,  in  England,  April 
27,  1844,  and  in  the  United  States,  August  20, 
1846,  that  this  instrument  w^as  brought  to  a 
form  for  practical  use.  The  patent  says:  "In 


MARINE     BAROMETER.  27 

the  application  of  thin  sheets  of  metal  or  other 
flexible  air  tight  substances  to  certain  appar- 
atus employed  for  measuring,  the  pressure  and 
elasticity  of  the  air  and  other  fluids."  The  first 
of  these  instruments  we  find  any  record  of  being 
on  sale  in  this  country  was  in  the  spring  of 
1849.  There  was  another  Metallic  barometer 
that  was  brought  into  use  in  this  country  a  few 
years  later  by  a  French  inventor  named  Eugene 
Bourdon,  who  was  widely  known  at  this  period 
for  his  then  new  pressure  steam  gauges  and 
later  Vacuum  gauges,  that  were  being  intro- 
duced on  our  steam  vessels.  He  was  engaged 
in  constructing  tools  and  machinery  for  a  rail- 
road in  France  about  1840,  and  he  was  engaged 
in  experiments  with  his  pressure  gauge  prior  to 
the  invention  of  the  Aneroid.  The  patent  on 
his  gauge  was  obtained  in  France,  June  18, 
1849,  and  in  the  United  States,  August  3,  1852. 
This  gauge  was  described  as  made  of  a  metal 
tube  partially  flattened  in  its  length  and  coiled 
nearly  to  a  circle;  one  end  is  closed  up,  while 
the  other  end  is  left  open  to  receive  the  pressure 
of  the  steam.  To  the  end  that  is  closed  a  hand 
is  fixed  which  indicates  on  a  dial  the  variations 
of  the  pressure.  By  reversing  the  application 


28    .  MARINE    BAROMETER. 

of  the  pressure  a  vacuum  gauge  was  made.  A 
barometer  was  made  by  exhausting  the  air  from 
the  coiled  tube  and  hermetically  sealing  it/' 

After  the  expiration  of  the  patent  of  Moreau 
the  manufacture  of  Aneroid  barometers  was 
taken  up  by  several  makers,  both  for  marine 
and  land  service,  and  was  carried  on  for  a  com- 
paratively few  years,  as  improved  instruments 
were  being  made  in  Europe  and  sold  at  prices 
with  which  the  American  manufacturers  could 
not  compete  when  quality  was  considered. 
During  our  Civil  War  there  w^ere  numbers  of 
these  barometers  fitted  on  the  vessels  of  the 
blockading  fleets  on  the  coasts,  and  on  the 
transports  carrying  supplies  and  munitions  of 
w^ar  to  the  various  supply  depots  of  the  Army 
and  the  Navy.  Many  of  these  instruments  were 
made  by  Joseph  T.  Large,  while  the  Bourdon 
type  of  Aneroid  was  furnished  by  other 
makers. 

AMERICAN  r^ne   early    manufacture    of 

BAROMETERS.  Mercurial  barometers  in  this 
country  consisted  of  a  few  experiments  prior  to 
1820.  The  main  difficulty  lay  in  the  obtaining 
of  a  satisfactory  glass  tube  for  the  instrument 


MARINE     BAROMETER.  29 

that  the  domestic  glass  factories  could  not 
furnish  for  many  years.  There  seems  to  be  the 
best  of  reasons  to  believe  that  Marine  barom- 
eters were  not  made  in  this  country  until  after 
1830,  about  which  time  so  many  skilled  me- 
chanics came  to  the  United  States.  The  first 
barometer  exhibited  at  the  American  Institute 
fairs,  for  Marine  use,  was  by  John  Roach,  of 
New  York,  in  1835,  and  in  1839,  Giuseppe 
Tagliabue,  of  New  York,  had  a  Marine  barom- 
ter  on  exhibition  at  the  fair,  for  which  he  was 
awarded  a  gold  medal.  For  several  years  he 
was  considered  the  maker  of  a  high  class  of 
instruments.  Another  manufacturer  of  Marine 
barometers  was  Joseph  T.  Large,  who  had 
learned  his  trade  with  Giuseppe  Tagliabue,  and 
started  in  business  for  himself  in  New  York  in 
1845.  The  nautical  supply  stores  in  our  Mari- 
time cities  now  began  to  an  extent  to  patronize 
the  home  product.  James  Green  was  a  maker 
of  high-class  instruments  at  an  early  date.  In 
1854  he  devised  the  Mercurial  barometer, 
adopted  by  the  Smithsonian  Institute,  and  later 
by  the  United  States  Signal  Service,  and 
Weather  Bureau.  He  also  made  Marine  barom- 
eters of  a  high  grade  for  the  U.  S.  Navy.  There 


30  MARINE    BAROMETER. 

are  few  Marine  Mercurial  barometers  now  made 
in  this  country,  as  the  foreign  production  is  sold 
at  so  low  a  figure. 

At  the  present  time  the  larger  number  of  the 
vessels  of  our  Merchant  Marine  have  both  the 
Mercurial  and  the  Aneroid  barometers  in  their 
equipment,  as  the  latter  being  more  sensitive  to 
atmospheric  changes  gives  an  earlier  indication 
of  a  coming  change  in  the  weather,  but  the 
former  is  still  considered  the  standard  instru- 
ment, but  on  account  of  trade  conditions  the 
foreign  instrument  is  most  generally  used  on 
our  American  vessels. 


FOURTEEN  DAY  USE 

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